Dutch registry SIDN manages more than 3 million 200 thousand .NL names.
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Country code TLDs often have some kind of local presence requirement. To be eligible for a .FR domain for example, you need an address in France. Local presence rules may be seen by some as an unnecessary hurdle but on the other hand, is it really that unreasonable to expect that a country's TLD be truly representative of that country?
One of the reasons for requiring local presence is to ensure someone linked to a domain name is accountable in that country. In case of abuse for example, the registry doesn't want to have to chase someone up who might be in a different country and subject to different laws. So European registries often try to maintain some kind of local presence requirement, while at the same time striving for maximum flexibility so as not to hinder their TLD's commercial success.
Holland's SIDN, the registry for .NL, has come up with a clever proposal for getting that balance right. They contacted INDOM last week to ask us what we thought about it, and I have to admit we're impressed.
The idea is to add a "domicile" field in the WHOIS to show a local contact, which could even be SIDN's own address. The rest of the WHOIS entry stays the same, i.e. you have both "registrant" and "administrative contact" fields. This means that a non-Dutch registrant can still list his own contact details while conforming to the local presence requirement. It also means that if need be (i.e. if the registrant doesn't have someone in Holland to vouch for him and provide the local contact), the local presence can be vetted directly by the registry if it is providing its own address.
SIDN is currently talking to its international registrars to gauge their reaction to the plan. If others think the way we do and consider this a good idea, SIDN's board could green-light it as early as February.[/FONT]
Pour en lire plus...